And I Thought THIS July Was Busy!

We're now just a week away from the Paris Olympics, the first Games in eight years that will have a true "Olympic" feel.  More on that as the Games get closer and I go into full-blown Olympic mode (which should happen sometime this weekend).  But first (in my best Julie Chen Moonves voice), let's look ahead four years.  Because if you thought this summer was jam-packed with international sporting events, just wait until 2028!

The LA Olympics take place entirely within the month of July, and the July 14 Opening Ceremony is the earliest in modern Olympic history.  (The last Olympics held in the U.S., the 1996 Atlanta Games, started on July 19 and ended on August 4.)  That will create some scheduling complications for numerous events that typically run until mid-July, but will obviously have to make adjustments in 2028, whether that means ending earlier (before the Olympics begin) or starting later (after the Olympics end).

One event that should easily be able to make the adjustment is the Major League Baseball All*Star Game.  This year's game was a week later than usual.  It's normally the second Tuesday in July.  In 2028, it'll have to be, which actually works out well.  The second Tuesday in July is July 11, which is three days before the Olympic Opening Ceremony.  That shouldn't be a problem.  Although, with Olympic baseball being played at Dodger Stadium, I do wonder how long their road trip will be (and if the Angels will also have one).  In 1996, the Braves were on the road for the duration of the Olympics.

That's probably the only easy one, though.  As I noted during this year's U.S. Olympic Trials, the normal Trials schedule could work in 2028, but this year's Trials were designed to give them about a month before the Olympics...which would push them into early-to-mid-June rather than mid-to-late-June.  In track & field that could be problematic since the NCAA Championships are always the second weekend in June (two weeks after Memorial Day Weekend), and the Olympic Trials would have to be after that.  They could conceivably take place at the same time as this year, but that would have them ending only 10 days before the start of the Olympics.

So, what do you do?  If you move Trials up, the NCAA Championships would also have to be shifted (which would also shift up the NCAA Regionals and the various conference championships).  Leaving Trials at the same time seems like a logical option, especially since the Olympic qualifying period would likely end on July 3, the day after Trials end.  But that would mean that collegians could potentially have conference championships, Regionals, NCAA Championships, Olympic Trials and the Olympics all within a 10-week period. 

When the Track & Field Trials are scheduled will have a direct bearing on the Swimming Trials.  At the Olympics, swimming is usually first, so having the Swimming Trials first makes sense.  But, if they don't move the Track & Field Trials up, the Swimming Trials would have to stay in their same spot before track & field.  Which actually could be good.  Because Olympic swimming is being held at SoFi Stadium and they'll have to have an Olympic test event at SoFi sometime ahead of the Games.  That way, they could have Trials at SoFi and still have enough lead time to cover up the pools (which I'm sure they'd like to avoid installing twice) and get the stadium set up for the Opening Ceremony.

Schedule-wise, that seems to make the most sense.  Have the Swimming Trials in SoFi Stadium from June 17-25, then the Track & Field Trials from June 24-July 2.  Whether they're at the LA Coliseum (as they should be) or not, you keep the Track & Field Trials somewhere on the West Coast so that the athletes can just stay out there (especially if NCAAs are in Eugene as usual).

While figuring out the Olympic Trials schedule is up to the USOPC, USATF and USA Swimming (and, I'm sure, NBC), the early timing of the Olympics is just as problematic for plenty of other, international events that are mid-July staples.  Wimbledon, the British Open and the Tour de France will all have to make adjustments because of the early Olympics, which impacts the season-long schedules in those three sports.

I'll start with the British Open since that's the one that got me thinking about this and inspired today's post.  This is the British Open's regular weekend.  Always has been.  Except in 2028, this will be the opening weekend of the Olympics.  There's no way they'll have the two overlap.  So, it's either play the British Open a week earlier or play it immediately after the Olympics from August 3-6.

Option 2 certainly seems better and more likely.  If they play it before the Olympics, from July 6-9, that would put it only three weeks after the U.S. Open.  I know the PGA likes having the Majors relatively close together, but that seems a little too close.  Playing the British Open after would make it a five-week gap between the U.S. Open and Olympics (assuming the men's golf tournament is July 20-23), then two weeks between the Olympics and British Open.  That could work.

Playing the British Open before the Olympics, meanwhile, would overlap with Wimbledon.  Wimbledon typically ends on the second Sunday in July.  That actually won't be a problem in 2028 since it would put the Wimbledon gentlemen's final on July 9.  And that would actually create for a pretty awesome day in London since the final of Euro 2028 will be played at Wembley Stadium that night.

You'll notice I didn't include Euro 2028 on the list of events that will need to be adjusted.  That's because they've already announced the dates of the tournament: June 9-July 9.  The date of the final was almost certainly set because of the Olympics.  But it also means the Champions League Final can't be on the first Saturday in June like usual since that's less than a week before the start of the Euro.  (They haven't announced the dates of the 2028 Copa America, but I'm assuming that final will also be on July 9.)

Then there's the Tour de France.  This year, the route had to be adjusted because of the Olympics.  Instead of the traditional finish on the Champs Elysees, they moved the final stage to Nice so that Paris can prepare for the Olympics.  In 2028, the three-week race will need to push the start earlier, likely into mid-June, so that it can conclude on July 9.  Which will likely also push up the start of the Giro d'Italia, which is typically held in May/June.  Making those adjustments is easy enough that it shouldn't be a problem, especially since it wouldn't make sense to delay the Tour de France until August.

All of this will obviously be figured out.  They've got four years to do it.  (And, fortunately, this is nothing like the COVID-related adjustments in 2020-21.)  But it's still interesting to think about the ripple effect that the early dates of the 2028 Olympics will have across the board (I didn't even mention the NBA or WNBA, either, but they'll both be impacted, as well.), and the solutions they'll come up with.